HISTORY UNEARTHED: Historian Uncovers 100-Year-Old Photograph of Rav Shimon Shkop

YS GOLD 

The yohrtzeit of Rav Shimon Shkop—the legendary Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Sha’ar HaTorah in Grodno, which shaped so many gedolim of the next generation— fell yesterday, Sunday, 9 Cheshvan. 

On this very date, noted historian, R’ Dovi Safier was going through some old documents and came across a rare photograph of the Rosh Yeshiva arriving in the United States close to one hundred years ago. He shared the story with us: 

Rav Shimon came to the United States aboard the Olympic—the sister ship to the fated Titanic—in November of 1928, to raise funds for his yeshiva which was struggling mightily. “He failed miserably,” R’ Dovi tells us. “American philanthropists did not appreciate the European Torah world, and the need to build up its yeshivos.” 

Rav Shimon went on to serve as a Rosh Yeshiva and maggid shiur at Yeshiva Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon (RIETS) for four months—and many future American Rabbonim heard shiur from him during this short time. He ultimately returned to Grodno in the spring of 1929. 

An interesting anecdote about Rav Shimon’s passage to the United States is that another passenger aboard the Olympic was none other than Rav Yehuda Leib Twerski of Hornosteipel, a scion of the Chernobyler dynasty who established his court in Chicago. His son, Rav Yaakov Yisroel went to Milwaukee, where the Hornosteipeler court continues to be centered to this day under the leadership of his son Rav Michel Twerski, shlit”a. 

We will never know what these two great men spoke about on their long trip to this country, but this piece of history remains with us—and we publicize this iconic, one hundred-year-old image for our readers today.